2600lover Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 Maybe when you pulled it out of the box on Christmas morning? Maybe when you got it for your birthday? Well why did you pull it back out of the closet? hy did you decide do get into the world of Atari once again? Thought it would make a great question and conversasion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATARIPITBULL Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 For me it all started with my love of arcades as a kid growing up in Detroit and when Atari blew up, I had to have one so I could play all the games at home and shortly after my mom bought it for me, she wished to god she never had, then all my friends got 2600 and we would trade each other games and drool all over the pages of Atariage magazine wishing we had all the cool extras like the Atari game center, Romscanner & space age joystick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregory DG Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 Probably when I played the 2600 at a friends house around 1980. I remember talking with my mom & grandmother about wanting it because it had so many more games than the (I think) Intelly (mabe it was the CV.) I got it for Christmas (probably '80) with Space Invaders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christophero Sly Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 (edited) Probably the first time I saw an Atari was at a friend's house a few days after Christmas of '77 or maybe '78. I remember going to his house and his whole (large) family was playing it on one of those giant Curtis Mathis-type furniture TV's. I think they let me play once or twice, but for the most part I just sat there and stared in amazement. I guess you could say I became interested in Atari right there and then, but I had to wait until Christmas '80 to get my own console. I got back into Atari, purely by happenstance. I was in a thrift looking for paperback books when I happened to see a few Atari games sitting on the shelf. It was a flood of nostalgia and before I had even paid for them, I had become obsessed with idea of collecting Atari. Within the next week or two I found a box of 70+ VCS carts and I was off and running. It's coming up on 4 years now since I started collecting and I now have around 600 VCS carts, and few hundred more for various other platforms. Edited August 17, 2006 by Christophero Sly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2600lover Posted August 17, 2006 Author Share Posted August 17, 2006 (edited) Cool!! Good for you Chris!! And in case anyone wanted to know, I was helping clean out my grandmother-in-laws (lol) basement. It was in the corner all covered with crap. Sp I started to move things around and really got a good look at it. There were 15 games that were with it. So I moved it out to the garage and started cleaning it off. And there we go, thats how I met you guys on this board. If it wasnt for the Vader in her basement, I never would have know this site existed. Edited August 17, 2006 by 2600lover Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 For me, it was about a year ago. And it was for the first time, too, not again. When I was a kid, the big thing was NES games. And after buying games with childhood memories (Jeopardy Jr., Pin-Bot, Tetris, Super Mario Bros. 1,2, & 3), I decided to see what else there was in terms of vintage video games. Well, I went to the used video game store one day about a year ago, and there sat an Atari 2600 with about a dozen games for $50. Not knowing much about Atari, just that it was before the NES, I bought it. And now I have 50 games for it, but finding new ones seem to be impossible in my city. See, I was born in November 1982, so I guess that makes me one of the younger people on the board. When I was about 6 or 7, there was no choice for my parents but to buy me an NES. I mean, they could have got me a Sega Master System, but who cares about that? By the time I was interested in video games, the 2600 was almost out, and I don't think my parents even saw a 7800 in the stores. And then for my birthday in 1991, they bought me a SNES. And for my birthday in 1996, they bought me an N64. And for my birthday in 2001, guess what I bought with my money? A Gamecube. So it's basically been Nintendo my whole life up until recently. I started expanding my horizons with Atari and a Sega Genesis. I also want a PS1, too (OK, laugh.) And apart from the 50 Atari 2600 games and the 20 Genesis games, I have about 230 Nintendo games for each different system (except Virtual Boy.) I want more Atari games, and I'm growing more and more desperate as each shop doesn't have any. I wish my stupid town had more flea markets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2600lover Posted August 17, 2006 Author Share Posted August 17, 2006 For me, it was about a year ago. And it was for the first time, too, not again. When I was a kid, the big thing was NES games. And after buying games with childhood memories (Jeopardy Jr., Pin-Bot, Tetris, Super Mario Bros. 1,2, & 3), I decided to see what else there was in terms of vintage video games. Well, I went to the used video game store one day about a year ago, and there sat an Atari 2600 with about a dozen games for $50. Not knowing much about Atari, just that it was before the NES, I bought it. And now I have 50 games for it, but finding new ones seem to be impossible in my city. See, I was born in November 1982, so I guess that makes me one of the younger people on the board. When I was about 6 or 7, there was no choice for my parents but to buy me an NES. I mean, they could have got me a Sega Master System, but who cares about that? By the time I was interested in video games, the 2600 was almost out, and I don't think my parents even saw a 7800 in the stores. And then for my birthday in 1991, they bought me a SNES. And for my birthday in 1996, they bought me an N64. And for my birthday in 2001, guess what I bought with my money? A Gamecube. So it's basically been Nintendo my whole life up until recently. I started expanding my horizons with Atari and a Sega Genesis. I also want a PS1, too (OK, laugh.) And apart from the 50 Atari 2600 games and the 20 Genesis games, I have about 230 Nintendo games for each different system (except Virtual Boy.) I want more Atari games, and I'm growing more and more desperate as each shop doesn't have any. I wish my stupid town had more flea markets. Im 13, gonna be 14 next month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Helmet Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 1981...or was it 1980. I can't remember which year, but I was at a friends birthday sleepover. He had a Sears Tele-Games with Space Invaders. I hogged the thing all night. Didn't sleep a wink. I was hooked for the rest of my life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 Im 13, gonna be 14 next month. Hey, we're getting the teens in here! See, why do we need games like Grand Theft Auto when we have games like H.E.R.O. and Adventure made 20 years ago? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2600lover Posted August 17, 2006 Author Share Posted August 17, 2006 Well I do like Grand Theft Auto, but Im really into HERO right now. To bad I only have it on the emu! Asked for it for my birthday though, I think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 It's on Activision Anthology, a current compilation. I have it for GBA, but it's probably on other current consoles, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jboypacman Posted August 17, 2006 Share Posted August 17, 2006 It was back in the late 70s or early 80s i cant remember for sure.I was with my mom and we were at her boyfriends house.His kids had a Atari 2600 and we were fighting over what games to play.From there it was going from friend to friend's house playing Atari.Then i finally got my first 2600.It was my aunt and uncle's.It was a 6-switch woodgrain.It came with a few games and then i started to buy more games when i could.Well i give that Atari away and moved on to the Nes and on up the line of game systems.Well this past year i just got sick of all the current game systems.I about gave up on videogaming all together.Well i was on the Internet reading about the Atari FlashBack2.I wanted one.So for Valentines Day my wife bought one for me.I was hooked.So i went back on the internet to find out more about Atari and discovered AtariAge and how games are still being made for the Atari and other classic game systems.And i was back in the gaming.Bye Bye PS2 and X-Box and hello Atari. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic George 2K3 Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 (edited) I was interested in the Pong-type TV games of all various sorts in the 1970s. As far as cartridge-based videogame systems, the Mattel Intellivision fascinated me when it got used at the penny carnivals at Brightside Center in West Springfield, MA for betting on horse races. My first exposure to an Atari 2600 was most likely at a J.C. Penney kiosk at the Holyoke Mall, with me and a friend of mine playing Combat. Eventually I got a booklet of the various games offered for the Atari 2600, and I got stoked over seeing Space Invaders, Asteroids, and Missile Command being offered. I mean, that was like the next best thing to having an arcade in my own home. So me and my brother was begging for this to be our Christmas present for 1981. And lo and behold, that was what happened. Of course, we had to beg our sister Vicky to chip in for a Space Invaders cartridge, which we got a few days later at Caldor's in Westfield. We were playing that game nonstop all that afternoon with the game variations. Our game collection slowly began to build from there, beginning with Bowling, and then Pac-Man, then Laser Blast -- whatever games we could buy with our father's money at the time. I got Donkey Kong for one of my birthdays, then Smurf Rescue a year later. Then came the price markdowns on games, which really helped build our game collection by leaps and bounds. Later in early 1984 we sold off our Atari 2600 to get a ColecoVision with an Expansion Module #1, and I ended up getting ColecoVision games along with Atari 2600 games. That continued into my getting an Adam Family Computer System, which I used for BASIC programming as well as game playing when I was at the New Boston Road group home at St. Vincent's Home in Fall River, MA. Then the ColecoVision software dried up, and I eventually got an Atari 7800 and its library of games to play. That lasted until I sold that and whatever 2600 games I still had left in my collection at a tag sale to raise up money for the Forum House in 1991. Edited August 18, 2006 by Vic George 2K3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewing92 Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 (edited) Im 13, gonna be 14 next month. I'm glad I'm not the only teen at AA lol, I just turned 14 a week and a half ago. Okay here is the story... Growing up I was a Sega Genesis boy all the way, well then my older cousins came back to live in Indiana and was getting stuff out of storage, and that's when i got my nes (it is really my mom's because she let my cousins borrow it for a long long time since she didn't use it. Then I got my N64, then PS2, then Xbox, then Gamecube, and I was interested in finding out about the classics and where it all started, so I looked on ebay and saw some atari 2600's for sale, and I looked around for a while, and found a cheap Atari 2600 4 switch "Vader". I got it and man, it was great. I looked around the web and found Atari Age, and here I am now. Then looking around the site, and the rarity guide, made me want to start collecting for the Atari 2600. I first got my Atari 2600, and was able to play it in late May/early June this year. So i've only been playing and collecting for the 2600 for about 3 and a half months. So far though all I have is alot of commons, first I wanted to get alot of the really popular commons, and then when i get enough of them I will start getting the rarer games, and working my way up from commons to rares. So far I just have around 35 games all Rare 1's and Rare 2's with a couple of R3's, and 1 R4 Pitfall! 2(my favorite game so far on the 2600). So now you guys know my video game history Edited August 18, 2006 by ewing92 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2600lover Posted August 18, 2006 Author Share Posted August 18, 2006 Ok, heres another question, why Atari? Why not some other old game system? I know it may be tied to you story about how you got into Atari, but just for the hell of it, Why Atari? And have any of you used those massive wireless CX-40 lookin' things? Are they heavy? Do they have the same response? How do they work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregory DG Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 My set of wireless controllers never worked right. And I got them when they were new back in the mid-80's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rik Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 (edited) The funniest thing is that,first of all ,I assume the ATARI VCS made its apprearance in 1978-79?,I never,and none of my friends knew about it until this kid at school told me about it in late 1980,I just cant figure out why I didnt hear about it till then!I didnt even see commercials till late 1980,AND I was a pretty "into it" kind of kid who knew ALOT about the entertainment industry,and no,I didnt live in TRANSYLVANIA or ROMANIA,or any other isolated country I was born in,and still live in Canada,so in other words,I should have heard about it long before 1980,THAT IS if I'm correct in my assumption the 2600 or vcs came out in 78or 79,anyboby know for sure?Thanx Edited August 18, 2006 by Rik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ewing92 Posted August 18, 2006 Share Posted August 18, 2006 (edited) It originally came out in 1977 I think. The reason it was Atari and not a coleco or intv, is because when I first started buying for the Atari, I did not know ANYTHING about retro games, I mean, I don't even think I knew what a colecovision, or intellivision was. And Atari, everybody who has been near any type of video game ever, knows that the Atari started it all in the business. So I picked Atari because it was the only one I knew of. Edited August 19, 2006 by ewing92 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2600lover Posted August 18, 2006 Author Share Posted August 18, 2006 Exactly!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AussieAtari Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 I was house-sitting in 1978 and there was a 2600 with Space Invaders hooked up to the TV and that started it all and I have not looked back since. Come 1983 and I took a job selling consoles and computers and had pretty much every system at home, over the next 10 years I started to sell off/give away most of my stuff only to fall back in love with it all 5 years ago and start collecting. Another case of I simply did not realise what I was giving away at the time story! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godzillajoe Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 First got an Atari when Space Invaders came out. Gave it and a bunch of great games, some now considered rare, to my cousin when I got a C= 64 Had a backup system that a friend gave me when they "grew up" which I still have but it was sitting in a closet for years until the emulator scene exploded and I got interested in it again. Funny that these days I own more games than I did as a kid. My friend Mike had pretty much every game ever so I just borrowed from him or we played at his house. Now I have a 2600, 5200 and 7800 all lined up in front of the TV like a happy family Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pocketmego Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 I had been trying to convince myself that I wanted either a new Playstation 3 or an X-Box 360. But, the prices were bothering me. I should say the prices vs my interest in having either system. I had just started reading Retro Gamer magazine and I was slowly realizing that I was REALLY loosing a LOT of interest in the same old same old repetitive market of modern games. That what I really misdsed was my Atari and C64. So, I spent the money instead on a new computer which I needed, as my old one was getting along in years and got more heavily into emulators and then the real thing just prior to finding this site. Best decision I ever made, because I'm now alive again in my hobby, vs just sort of buying the stuff off the shelf and barely playing it like I had been. I knew something was really wrong when I played Original Metal Gear games that were on the Metal Gear Solid 3 disc, more than the actualy Metal Gear Solid 3 game. I'm now almost toally about Retro Gaming and am happier than I have been in a while and large part of it has to do with this site and all of you fine people. -Ray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pocketmego Posted August 22, 2006 Share Posted August 22, 2006 Ok, heres another question, why Atari? Why not some other old game system? I know it may be tied to you story about how you got into Atari, but just for the hell of it, Why Atari? And have any of you used those massive wireless CX-40 lookin' things? Are they heavy? Do they have the same response? How do they work? I got it when I was very young and before there was an Intellivision or Coleco. My parents got it for my brother and me on Christmas of 1979 along with a small black and white TV to play it on and we had a blast. I owned it happily all the way up into late 83 and into 84 when I got my C64, and because of that I never even knew ther ehad been a Crash. I always assumed games just kept going, because Commodore always had games. My brother got the NEs eventually, but I stuckn happily with my Commodore (64 then 128) until the early 90's when I got a Genesis. -Ray Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 Decemeber 1983 when my parents got me one for Christmas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Almost Rice Posted August 23, 2006 Share Posted August 23, 2006 1982 my uncle got a 400. I got a 600xl in 1984. Those were the best summers of my life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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